WE LIVE IN HOPE
Family tell of Ashlee’s treatment in US
THE family of a teenager who has been fighting a rare form of nerve cancer for nearly 10 years are hopeful she has been cured by an experimental vaccine in the US.
Ashlee Easton, 15, was diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma in 2012 after complaining of a sore stomach.
The youngster, from Falkirk, was treated with radiotherapy, chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant in Glasgow but relapsed three times.
Her mum Lisa, 48, researched alternative treatments and learned of a vaccine treatment available in New York.
It is bivalent, which means it uses two antigens to trigger an immune response against proteins in the cancer cells.
Mum-of-two Lisa said: “She was diagnosed when she was six and I thought she just didn’t want to go to school because she kept complaining of having a sore tummy and thighs.
“I gave her Calpol and she settled down and it wasn’t until the end of January she was coming up with symptoms again.”
After being seen by doctors in Falkirk, Ashlee was transferred to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow where medics discovered the neuroblastoma.
But none of the usual treatment options worked and Lisa told how she had desperately searched online forums for the answer.
She said: “We knew about the vaccine treatment because I’m on forums and had heard about kids who had relapsed multiple times who were doing well on it. I thought, ‘We just have to do this to give her the best chance, she has put up such a battle throughout the years.’”
Lisa then spoke to Ashlee’s consultant about what she had discovered.
She said: “When I mentioned the bivalent vaccine, he said that he would support us if we wanted to go down that route.”
The family raised £239,000 for treatment at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre (MSKCC) where Ashlee first went for clinical trials in March 2020.
She was given the allclear in October 2020 but had to return with Lisa and dad Donald, 53, in December that year to complete a further four weeks of treatment.
The family were stuck in their New York hotel for nine weeks, scared to leave because of Covid.
Lisa said: “Getting to America was horrendous. Right up to the last minute, we didn’t know if we were going or not.
“We ended up there for nine weeks. It has been a tough time but all worth it.”
Lisa is hopeful that Ashlee has had her final treatment.
She said: “As far as we can see it has worked but we don’t find out any data on it or how her body has reacted to it.
“We’re not going to know so they will keep scanning her in Glasgow every three months.
“I wouldn’t have done this if I didn’t think there was a good chance because it’s put her through a lot of stress.”